Woods, Brenda. The Red Rose Box. G.P. Putnam Sons, 2002. ISBN 039923702x. $16.99. 136 pp. Reviewer: Janet Francis Reading Level: Young adult; Rating: Excellent Genre: Contemporary realistic fiction; Subject: Segregation--Juvenile fiction; African Americans--Juvenile fiction; Sisters--Juvenile fiction; Book--Reviews; Leah narrates this story of the roller coaster life of two young black girls in the early 1950’s, born and raised in the south, whose lives encompass the ugly world of segregation and the golden world of California where color makes no difference as long as there is money. Leah and her sister, Ruth experience all the family love there is with each other, their mother, father and grandmother and all close associates but the peripheries of their lives are defined by strict rules of protocol for black people until they are invited by a long unknown aunt for a short vacation in California. Here they still find unbounded family love plus an environment where their skin color makes no difference to their daily excursions and where luxury greets them on every hand. Later in the story, they visit New York (with the same Aunt) and find a kind of intermediate acceptance where there are special places (separate by equal) for them. In the process of the story, the two sisters lose their beloved parents, all their friends and neighbors and everyone from their early life except their grandmother to a hurricane and are adopted by Aunt Olivia and Uncle Bill into the golden life they visited, but find that physical security and comfort don’t replace the happiness of what is known. Basically this is a well-written treatise on growing up and accepting the good and the difficult and learning that one doesn’t replace the other.

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Woods, Brenda. The Red Rose Box. G.P. Putnam Sons, 2002. ISBN 039923702x. $16.99. 136 pp. Reviewer: Janet Francis Reading Level: Young adult; Rating: Excellent Genre: Contemporary realistic fiction; Subject: Segregation--Juvenile fiction; African Americans--Juvenile fiction; Sisters--Juvenile fiction; Book--Reviews; Leah narrates this story of the roller coaster life of two young black girls in the early 1950’s, born and raised in the south, whose lives encompass the ugly world of segregation and the golden world of California where color makes no difference as long as there is money. Leah and her sister, Ruth experience all the family love there is with each other, their mother, father and grandmother and all close associates but the peripheries of their lives are defined by strict rules of protocol for black people until they are invited by a long unknown aunt for a short vacation in California. Here they still find unbounded family love plus an environment where their skin color makes no difference to their daily excursions and where luxury greets them on every hand. Later in the story, they visit New York (with the same Aunt) and find a kind of intermediate acceptance where there are special places (separate by equal) for them. In the process of the story, the two sisters lose their beloved parents, all their friends and neighbors and everyone from their early life except their grandmother to a hurricane and are adopted by Aunt Olivia and Uncle Bill into the golden life they visited, but find that physical security and comfort don’t replace the happiness of what is known. Basically this is a well-written treatise on growing up and accepting the good and the difficult and learning that one doesn’t replace the other.

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